Press Releases 2005

10 | 2005 -
DPD promotes the “junior sportsmen and women of the year“

Hamburg/Aschaffenburg, 21 October 2005: In the presence of Hans Fluri, CEO DPD GeoPost Deutschland, awards have now been presented to the "junior sportsmen and women of the year" in Hamburg. DPD, the market leader among parcel service providers in Germany’s B2B business, is acting for the second year in succession as sponsor for these awards, which are organised by Germany’s Sports Aid (DSH) trust. Mr Fluri explains DPD’s commitment to this cause by saying "These young athletes represent virtues which can benefit our country as a whole - dynamism, will power and team spirit". Every year the DSH organisation presents awards to especially talented sportsmen and women from the younger generation and promotes their careers with grants which have, since 2004, been partly financed by DPD.

The individual sports competition was won by Maximilian Levy, five-fold junior world champion in track cycling, ahead of Benjamin Kleibrink, junior world and European champion 2005 in foil fencing and Lena Schöneborn, junior world champion in the modern pentathlon. In the team competition the sword fencing junior world champions just made it ahead of the under-19 football world champions and the junior world champions in the sprint track racing team. The young sportsmen and women received their awards at the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. The occasion for the presentation was a celebration organised by DSH.

"Those who achieve great things and work hard every day to reach their targets should be rewarded and supported - in sport just as much as in business", remarked Mr Fluri in his address. "Just like these young top-class sportsmen and women, DPD would never have become what it is today without the readiness to work hard, take risks and compete on the market."

Today’s achievers promote the achievers of tomorrow - this is the principle which DPD also applies to its own promotion of young people. In the year 2005/2006 the company is training approximately 140 of the new generation entering the CEP (courier, express and parcel services) industry. For years now sports sponsorship at a regional level has been a regular component of the company’s corporate philosophy, with the kinds of sport promoted ranging from handball and football to tennis.

The DSH nominations are based primarily on medals won at junior world and European championships, as well as outstanding successes at the Olympics or international record-breaking performances. From all the nominations a jury under the chairmanship of the president of the German sport federation selects the "junior sportsman or woman of the year" in the categories of individual and team sports. In addition special awards are made to disabled athletes and athletes with a hearing disability.

The overall success of past "junior sportsmen and women of the year" proves the high quality of the competition, and of the athletes who have been distinguished by the programme: the 27 winners who have won awards in the individual "junior sportsman and woman of the year" contest since 1978 have won a total of 246 medals at the Olympic Games or at World and European championships, including 122 gold medals.